April is always the most interesting month for a maintenance staff.  The turf is still waking up from dormancy, the irrigation system needs to be started, and expectations from both the staff and customers are starting to get a little more demanding.  April is also the typical month for many cultural practices such as aeration, over-seeding, top-dressing, and bunker restoration.  While we wait for our summer staff to finish the spring semester, those of us currently working at the course are left with many tasks for not very many people.  Short Winter work days soon turn into extremely long Spring work days trying to get everything done before the end of the week.  Nobody has higher expectations for the golf course than me, which constantly leaves me wondering if we can squeeze in that one last task for the week.

There are many factors this time of year that usually become obstacles in our daily plan.  Starting the irrigation system was certainly one of them this week.  Between both golf courses, we experienced 6 different pipe breaks that forced us to spend just a little more time than originally planned to get the system started; in fact; just in time to begin North course greens aeration this week.  Before April comes to an end, we plan to aerate the greens, tees,  and sections of fairways.  Some bunker projects will take place on holes 4 North and 17 North.  These holes will also include some sod installation as well.  We will over-seed greens, tees, and winter injured areas in the fairways.  We will also begin to hydro-seed areas behind 7 North green, to the right of 6 North green, and to the left of 5 North green.  We will also be evaluating all of the sand traps and adding sand on an as needed basis. We hope to be finished with our scheduled projects before Memorial Day.  Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to work hard bringing the golf courses back to their summer quality playing conditions.  See you on the course!

-Jason VanBuskirk, Superintendent